Pruning nippers with lock device



Oct. 25, 1955 N. E. HABART 2,721,386

PRUNING NIPPERS WITH LOCK DEVICE Original Filed Sept. 18, 1947 INVENTOR. A/QQMA/V E. HABABT United States Patent O PRUNING NIPPERS WITH LOCKDEVICE Norman E. Habart, Bedford, Ohio Original application September18, 1947, Serial No. 774,848. Divided and this application March 2,1953, Serial No. 340,570

7 Claims. (Cl. 30-262) The present invention relates to nipper devices,such as pruning snips, and similar hand tools. This application is adivision of my co-pending application Serial No. 774,848, filedSeptember 18, 1947, now abandoned.

One object of the invention is to provide pruning nippers which areconstructed so that the bark of the plant member at the point of cuttingwill not be mutilated or torn but will be turned against the innerstructure of the plant member to promote rapid healing.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description of a preferred form of the invention, referencebeing made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side view in elevation of a pair of pruning nippers;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the pruning shears showing the position of thevarious parts thereof in the blade-closing position and with certainparts of the nippers broken away.

Fig. 3 is a top view in elevation of the nippers;

Fig. 4 is a view in section taken on line 44 of Fig. 2 showing theposition of the lock for the nippers when the blades are locked closely;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to that of Fig. 4 but showing the lock in thereleasing position;

Fig. 6 is an end view of the nipper taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view in section showing a twig cut by thenipper; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary, top view of a spring and lock plate.

Referring now to the drawings, I have shown a pair of pruning nippersindicated generally at 10. These nippers consist of two handle members11 and 12 pivoted together by a pin 13, which may be in the form of arivet, adjacent one end to provide blade operating lever portions 11aand 12a, respectively. The handle members are each formed of a channelshaped steel member, which provides a comfortable hand gripping surfaceand a rigid operating lever. The open sides of the channels of thehandle members face one another, and a wire spring 17 is arranged tospread the handle portions of the members 11 and 12. Preferably, thespring 17 consists of a resilient wire having three convolutions in thecentral portion as shown at 18, with straight end portions extending inthe channels of the respective handle members. The pin 13 extendsaxially through the convolutions. Thus, the handle members are normallyurged into the position shown in Fig. 1.

Preferably, the handle members are provided with abutments 20 whichlimit the degree to which the handles may be brought together, as shownin Fig. 2. In order to prevent the skin of the hand from being pinchedbetween the abutments 20, I have provided a pair of fan shaped guardplates 21 on each side of the handle members, the plates being mountedin place by the pin 13 extending therethrough. A positioning lug 21aextends inwardly from each plate and cooperates with the edges of thehandle members to retain the plates in effective guarding position.Thus, the outer edges of plates 21 prevent the operator frominadvertently injuring his hands by pinching the skin thereof betweenthe handle members.

The ends of lever portions 11a and 12a of the handle member areoperatively attached to two blades 22 and 23, which are pivotedtogether, the blade 22 being the cutting blade and the blade 23 theanvil blade. The blade 23 is made up of two complementary formed plates25 and 26 which are riveted together by rivets 27. The upper confrontingedges of the two plates are bowed to form a groove 28 for receiving thecutting edge of the blade 22. The upper outer edges of the plates 25 and26 are beveled as at 29, the purpose of which will be explainedhereinafter. Lugs 31 are formed on plates 25 and 26 and the lugs eachhave an opening therethrough for receiving a bolt 32 for pivotallyattaching the cutting blade 22 to the anvil blade. A nut 33 is threadedon the bolt 32 to hold the blade on the bolt. The cutting blade 22 ispreferably formed of a single piece of steel tapered to its lower edge,which is the cutting edge. The blades 22 and 23 are attached to thelever portions 11a and 12a of the members 11 and 12 by pivot bolts 34and 34a, respectively, so that the blades are operated by the handlemembers. As may be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, when the handle members 11 and12 are separated the blade members will be separated and when the handlemembers are brought together the cutting blade is brought into thegroove 28 of the anvil blade. The leverage of the handle members on theblades are such as to provide for substantial multiplication of theforce operating the handle levers so that when the nippers are used tocut a twig, for example, the beveled portions 29 of the anvil blade 23will roll the bark of the twig inwardly against the severed portion ofthe twig. This is illustrated in Fig. 7 and it will be seen that thesevered part is protected adjacent to the bark, thereby promoting morerapid healing of the twig than where the bark is shredded or torn as inthe case with the usual pruning shears.

It is desirable to lock the handles 11 and 12 in the blade closingposition shown in Fig. 2, and for this purpose I have provided a lockingdevice indicated generally at 35. This locking device consists of aplate which is positioned within the recesses of the channel-shapedlever portions 11a and 12a of the handle members 11 and 12, and theplate is held in place by the pivot pin 13 which extends through anopening through the plate. Also, the locking plate is positioned betweentwo of the convolutions of the coiled wire spring 17 so that the coilsof the wire tend to maintain the member 35 urged to the right lookingtoward the front end of the tool and against the right hand side,looking in said direction, of the channeled lever portion 12a as viewedin Fig. 4. The lower part of the locking plate is turned outwardly as at37 for engaging the upper right hand side edge of the lever portion 12aof the handle member 12. Preferably, the outturned portion 37 has adownwardly extending tab 38 which serves as a presser button by whichthe locking device 35 may be urged inwardly against the pressure of thespring. An outwardly projecting lug 39 is formed in the upper portion ofthe locking plate and this lug is adapted to extend into alignment withthe lower edge of the channel lever portion 11a when the plate is urgedby spring 17 toward the right hand wall of the lever portion and to bewithdrawn from such alignment when the plate is pressed inwardly by theoperator. It will be seen in Fig. 4 that the part 37 and lug 39cooperate to maintain the lever portions 11a and 12a blocked in theseparated position when the handles 11 and 12 are brought toward oneanother and lockingdevice 35 is positioned with lug 39 under the righthand edge of lever portion 11a. To release the handle members, lockingdevice 35 is merely moved by the operator laterally inwardly of thelever portions 11a and 12a to the position shown in Fig. 5. Thefrictional engagement of the lug 39 with the inside of lever portion 11aretains the locking plate in the upper portion of lever 11a and out ofthe locking position after having been pivoted to such position by theoperator to condition the tool for use. By forming the tab 38 parallelwith the side of the lower lever it is at all times accessible foroperation of the lock but it cannot interfere with the operation of thenippers. It will be apparent that this locking arrangement isinexpensively formed and it is positive in operation as well as beingout of the way during normal operations.

Although I have described but one form of the invention, it is to beunderstood that other forms might be adopted, all falling within thescope of the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. In a nipper device, a pair of levers pivoted together for actuatingthe blades of the device, spring means tending to actuate the levers inopposite directions about their pivot; and a lock for locking the leversagainst said spring action, said lock comprising a member adjacent tosaid levers and mounted for movement laterally with respect to saidlevers, and pivotally movable substantially in the plane of movement ofthe levers, said member having two spaced abutments engageable with thelevers, respectively, when said member is in a certain one of itslateral positions for maintaining the levers locked, one of saidabutments being movable out of engagement with its cooperating leverwhen the member is moved laterally from said one position, and means foryieldingly maintaining said member in said one position.

2. In a nipper device, a pair of levers pivoted together for actuatingthe blades of the device, spring means tending to actuate the levers inopposite directions about their pivot; and a lock for locking the leversagainst said spring action, said lock comprising a member adjacent tosaid levers and mounted for movement laterally with respect to saidlevers, and pivotally movable substantially in the plane of movement ofthe levers, said member having two spaced abutments engageable with thelevers, respectively, when said member is in a predetermined position insaid plane and in a certain one of its lateral positions, one of saidabutments being movable out of engagement with its cooperating leverwhen said member is moved out of said one lateral position and to asecond position in said plane, and means urging said member in a lateraldirection for yieldingly maintaining the member in said one lateralposition.

3. In a nipper device, a pair of operating levers; a pivot for thelevers, said levers each having an edge movable toward and away from theother lever when the levers are oscillated in their pivot; a plateadjacent to the levers and adjacent to said edges thereof, said platebeing movable in a plane parallel to the plane of movement of the leversand laterally with respect to the levers, said plate having a projectionengageable with the said edge of one of the levers and a secondprojection engageable with the said edge of the other of said leverswhen the plate is moved laterally toward the levers, and disengageablewith the said edge when the plate is moved laterally from the levers;and spring means for urging the plate laterally against the levers.

4. A device of the character defined in claim 3 in which the firstmentioned projection of the plate includes an actuating element formanipulating said plate.

5. In a nipper device, a pair of blade actuating levers pivotallyconnected by a pivot pin; a lock member pivoted to the pin and having apart extending parallel with the levers, said part having two spaced,laterally projecting lugs engageable with edges of said levers forlocking of the levers in jaw-closed position; and a spring forseparating the levers on one side of the pivot pin and for resilientlyurging said member laterally toward said edges of the levers.

6. In a nipper device, a pair of levers pivoted together for actuatingcutting blades, said levers including channel shaped portions arrangedwith the open sides of the channels confronting one another, a lockmember mounted between the levers and within one of said channels, saidmember being movable laterally with respect to the channels and into andout of said channel and having two spaced, laterally projecting lugsengageable with opposed edges of the two levers to cooperate with saidedges respectively, for maintaining the levers separated, one of saidlugs being moved out of alignment with its cooperating edge when thelock member is moved laterally inwardly; and resilient means for urgingthe member laterally for positioning said abutments in alignment withthe levers.

7. A device of the character defined in claim 6 in which the other ofsaid abutments on the locking member includes an actuating partextending parallel to the side of one of the channel shaped leverportions and a plane outside the channel portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,543,899 Bernard June 30, 1925 2,306,506 Simonsen et a1 Dec. 29, 19422,504,766 Vosbikian Apr. 18, 1950

